Brad Richards #91 C

• 30 years old
• Unrestricted free agent
• Made $7.8 million last year

Despite another injury shortened season (his fourth in a row), Brad Richards was the Dallas Stars' leader in points and top-three in goals and assists. As one the key pointmen in the power-play, Richards was their leader in power-play assists and it was obvious that the offense ran through Richards.

With a healthy Richards, Dallas was rolling along and looked like a solid bet to break their playoff drought. Richards started the season on fire, recording multiple points in the first four games of the season which were all Dallas wins. Richards had at least 14 points in the first four months of the season and was a consistent goal scorer.

Brenden Morrow #10 LW

• 32 years old.
• 2 years left on his contract.
• Will make $4.1 million next year.

Season stats and career high comparison:

The captain of the Dallas Stars was, as usual, the heart and soul of the team again this year. He played through numerous injuries throughout the season and for only the third time in his 10 year career, he played in all 82 regular season games.

Reports surfaced yesterday from Dallas Morning News reporter Mike Heika that Tom Gaglardi, a Vancouver businessman, has become the latest leading candidate on the carousel to buy the Dallas Stars.

The 43-year-old Gaglardi is the current president and heir to a billion-dollar Canadian hotel and restaurant chain called Northland Properties. He is the majority owner in the Kamloops Blazers (that's an interesting name), a team in the Western Hockey League andd was part of a team that tried to buy the Vancouver Canucks when they were up for sale in 2004. Hockey seems to be pretty high up on his priority list so that would a welcome change from the Tom Hicks era. 

Coming into the season, the Dallas Stars had question about the ownership of the team. Unfortunately, six months later, those questions still remain unanswered as their offseason rolls around and roster changes come to the forefront of the mind.

The Stars were ranked number 23 out of 30 in the league in terms of payroll at the end of the season. Despite their low payroll, they were one point away from making the playoffs.

Heading into the next season, the Stars will have eight free agents to think about and somewhere a little over $20 million to play around with. It is still unknown whether or not the Stars will spend money near the cap limit, although it's quite doubtful. The salary cap had a limit of $59.4 million this year and that number is expected to expand by $3 million more for next year.

The most scrutinized free agent will be Brad Richards, who has already come out and said that he will not return to the team if they do not get an owner. With things looking as they are for the Stars, it's going to be a tough time trying to re-sign Richards.

After watching the first set of games in the NHL playoffs, I've realized that without the Stars, I have absolutely no rooting interests this year. Playoff games are exciting enought as they are, but a team to root for would certainly be nice. So as Stars fan, what team would be acceptable? The city closest to Dallas (Nashville Predators)? The team with the most goals (Vancouver Canucks)? The most exciting player (lots of choices here)?

After juggling a few ideas, I've decided that the team with the most former Dallas Stars would be the most appropriate, that is if you don't already have a team to root for. So without further ado, here's the list of former Stars in this year's NHL playoffs and a few reasons why, or why not, to root for their respective teams.

The Marc Crawford era as the Dallas Stars coach came to an end today after he was fired following another season without making the playoffs. Crawford had just finished his second season as the Stars coach and was 79-60-25 in his time here.

Crawford took over the team two years ago when Dave Tippett was fired before the 2009-2010 season. He took over a team that had missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1995-1996 season and though he was able to improve the team, it wasn't up to par with GM Joe Nieuwendyk's standards.

For a team that was picked by many prognosticators to miss the playoffs by a lot this year, this move comes as a bit of a shock. The Stars overacheived, a whole bunch in my opinion, playing this season without an owner and with a restrictive payroll. The team was unable to add significant pieces in the offseason and found themselves making moves during the season that shed salary for the future, although the Goligosky trade helped to improve the team.

Final

Dallas 3 - Minnesota 5

Everything was going right for the Dallas Stars on their last game of the regular season. The Red Wings had beaten the Chicago Blackhawks, opening up the eighth seed in the West, and Dallas was playing a Minnesota Wild team that was full of call-up players because their injury list was so extensive. And then, the game started and everything went to hell in a handbasket en route to a 5-3 loss for the Stars.

The first period wasn't bad for the Stars as they managed to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission through goals by Brad Richards and Brenden Morrow, but then the second period came around and the Wild looked like the desperate team that was fighting for a playoff spot. They were beating Dallas to loose pucks and they were more aggressive in rushing the net. The only thing that was keeping Dallas in the game was their power-play, which led to Morrows's goal in the first period and an Alex Goligoski goal in the second.

The third period turned into a microcosm of this season for the Stars. The defense lost containment on the Wild players and left guys wide open in front of the net to fire at Kari Lehtonen. It eventually led to the game-winning and season ending goal against the Stars as former Dallas Star Antti Miettinen scored on a Wild power-play. 

Dallas Stars @ Minnesota Wild

Sunday April 10, 5 PM CT

As the great Lloyd Christmas once said "So you're telling me there's a chance..." The Dallas Stars (42-28-11, 95 points) will play the final game of the NHL regular season tonight against the Minnesota Wild (38-25-8, 84 points) and oh what a finale this will be. With the Detroit Red Wings win today over the Chicago Blackhawks, the Stars can (incredibly) make it into the playoffs with a regulation or overtime win over the Wild. 60 (perhaps 65) minutes of hockey will decide the playoff fates of two teams tonight.

Luckily for Dallas, it is the Wild that they are playing. Dating back to last season, the Stars have won six straight games over the Wild. The Wild are, and have been for a while, out of the playoff race and have a multitude of players that are injured and out of the game tonight. Included among the Wild wounded is Martin Havlat, their leader in goals and points.

Dallas needs to come out tonight and throw everything, plus the kitchen sink, at the Wild. They have to take the game to them and prove that they are worthy of the playoffs. Leave no doubt who's the better team.

With two games left in the regular season and the Dallas Stars sitting in ninth place in the West, a lot of help will be needed from other teams in order to get Dallas into the playoffs. I'll be giving a quick look at the teams that the Stars have a chance of catching in the playoff race, and how they have fared against their next opponents. Tiebreakers could also come into effect at the end of the season and they are decided like this:

1. Regulation and Overtime Wins: The team with the most regulation and overtime wins will win this tiebreaker.
2. Head-to-Head Record: Pretty self-explanatory here.
3. Goal Differential: The team with the better goal differential will win this tiebreaker. Goal differential is decided by the total number of goals scored during the season minus the total number of goals allowed.

And here is the look at the teams that Dallas is chasing:

• Chicago Blackhawks - Eighth seed in the West. Two points ahead of Dallas and holds the first tiebreaker by one more regulation win than Dallas. Dallas has a 3-1-0 head-to-head record against Chicago.
  • Chicago plays their final two games against the Red Wings, one game in Detroit and the last game in Chicago.
  • Blackhawks own a 3-1-0 record against Detroit this year and have won both games in Detroit. They are outscoring the Red Wings by a 13-7 margin.
  • Starting goaltender Corey Crawford is 3-0-0 against Detroit with a 1.33 goals-against average and .962 save percentage.
  • Chicago is 6 for 14 (43%) on power-play chances against Detroit.
  • Patrick Sharp returned for the Blackhawks in their last game.
  • Detroit's leading point-getter, Henrik Zetterberg, will miss the Red Wings' last two games of the season with a lower body injury. He has one goal in the season series.

Final

Dallas 4 - Colorado 2

Needing wins in all three of their remaining games, the Dallas Stars completed step one of the their playoff plan with a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche last night. The Stars got goals from Tom Wandell, Loui Eriksson, Brenden Morrow, and Brad Richards.

The final regular season home game started out very slow for the Stars, as they didn't seem to play with much urgency. Things didn't start to pick up until midway through the first period when Dallas really started to put pressure on Colorado's net. Dallas took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Colorado was able to make a small comeback in the 2nd period as it seemed Dallas was just sitting on their 2-0 lead. Brandon Yip put in Colorado's first goal and made Stars fans sweat a bit.

The Stars were able to get in an early goal in the third period that restored their two goal lead and Dallas was able to maintain it throughout the rest of the game before finishing up with a 4-2 win. Mark Olver scored the other goal for Colorado.